Report Criticizes Superfund Program

Nearly $6 of every $10 spent on the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program goes for support activities and not directly to site cleanup, a congressional report said. The Environmental Protection Agency disputed the analysis used by the General Accounting Office. It said many of the activities the GAO called “support” actually contribute significantly to cleaning the toxic waste sites. The Superfund program, begun in 1980, has been under attack for years from critics who contend that too much of the money--both taxpayer dollars and funds collected from the oil and chemical industries--have gone for litigation and noncleanup activities.